You know, I was never one of those that felt sorry for myself on Valentine’s Day when I was single, but I guess it is nice to know you have someone special today, if only because you don’t feel left out and unloved when everyone around you is getting roses.

My Chris had flowers delivered to the house yesterday – a really pretty bouquet of roses and lilies, the inspiration for this picture. But we’re not “observing” the day until Friday, seeing as how I have a math test tonight and he has to give a presentation to 3,000 people at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. I’m going over to his place after class, but I think it’ll be a more-or-less hi-how-are-you-are-you-ready-to-go-to-bed-now kind of night.

Honestly, Chris is so good to me – and we did just go to a concert Monday night – that I really wouldn’t be worried about getting to go out for dinner or anything. Then again, most places we go out to eat are either places we bike to in our lounging clothes and flip-flops or places to indulge my French toast fix. The Black Orchid Café will probably be a nice treat. Chris seems very excited about the Bananas Foster; it may even be worth having to put a shirt on that covers his armpits. :D Right now I am trying to decide if I should have the calves’ liver & bacon or the grilled ostrich.

A while back, I came to the conclusion that I was not going to find anyone.. not with any hint of bitterness, mind you. Just the realization that I should make sure I am happy alone because I didn’t see a relationship in the cards for me.

So after I met Chris, although everything felt very peaceful and natural, once in a while I had to actually kind of pinch myself – had I really done it? What did I do to have this luck, to find a wonderful person to make happy, that wants to make me happy too? It’s amazing to me that there is someone so full of kindness, patience, humor.. And in such a lovely package! :)

One thing I’ve always found very amusing about me and Chris is that I often go to sleep at night with a smile on my face – a full smile, in the dark. He can’t even see it, so it’s not for his benefit; it’s just genuine happiness. Sometimes it makes me laugh.

So anyway, that’s my gush for the day. I’m feeling a little gushier than normal today; we got into an argument last night. Maybe the second time ever we’ve had what I would describe as an argument. I needed to get home to feed the cats, but only made it as far as the driveway before I turned around and went back inside, where Chris met me at the door with a five-minute hug. And every bit of frustration was gone; instead, just apologies all around. And more hugs. And again I think – yes, this is the way things should be.

And again I remember how lucky it is that I watched the 40-Year-Old Virgin one night and got all bummed at the sappy ending and decided I didn’t really want to be single forever, so checked out Match and liked the cute doctor’s profile. And how lucky it is that he wrote me back! :)

Single people, don't hate me for this entry. Sometimes you just have to count your blessings - and we all have many of those. And someday, one of your blessings will be the person you get to go home to, too.

Stacy,I amased how open and well you express your feeling. I am happy you met Chris...you are much more fun to read now!

Done any diving recently? I'm going to Jug hole in the morning with Guy Bryant. Neither of us have dove the cave and it will be my first time in a cave with my new sidemount rig. I wanted to learn to sidemount after seeing the cavern the first time about a year ago. I am told there is a white sand dune, in past the first restriction that looks like blue diamonds when you shine your light on it. I going to try and photograph it as well as I can with my strobe less camera. I am lucky my wife puts up with my diving drug....LOLTom

A small boy lived by the ocean. He loved the creatures of the sea, especially the starfish, and he spent much of his time exploring the seashore.

One day the boy learned there would be a minus tide that would leave the starfish stranded on the sand.

When the tide went out, he went down to the beach, began picking up the stranded starfish, and tossing them back into the ocean.

An elderly man who lived next door came down to the beach to see what the boy was doing. Seeing the man's quizzical expression, the boy paused as he approached. "I'm saving the starfish!" the boy proudly declared.

When the neighbor saw all of the stranded starfish he shook his head and said: "I'm sorry to disappoint you, young man, but if you look down the beach, there are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see. And if you look up the beach the other way, it's the same. One little boy like you isn't going to make much of a difference."

The boy thought about this for a moment. Then he reached his small hand down to the sand, picked up another starfish, tossed it out into the ocean, and said: "Well, I sure made a difference for that one!"